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Newsmen share insights about Geneva Republican for its 170th year

'That was our responsibility to cover Geneva'

GENEVA – For 170 years, the Geneva Republican documented the life of the Geneva community; births, deaths, taxes, crimes, elections and calamities were all faithfully reported.

In honoring that breadth of service, the Geneva History Museum hosted Geneva’s Newspaper of Record as part of its Brown Bag luncheon lecture series Nov. 14.

Benjamin Wilson printed the first edition of the Western Mercury on Jan. 7, 1847, the local Geneva publication that would become the Geneva Republican newspaper, said Geneva History Museum Executive Director Terry Emma.

“It was bought and sold so many times, we could not keep track of it,” Emma said.

[Sandy Bressner - sbressner@shawmedia.com]

[Dave Rogers, former editor of the Geneva Republican, talks to a crowd gathered at the Geneva History Museum during a presentation in honor of the newspaper's 70th anniversary. The Geneva Republican was purchased by Shaw Media, owner of the Kane County Chronicle.]

The panel of former employees and a past owner of the Geneva Republican spoke about their years at the paper: David Rogers, who joined the Republican in 1972 as associate editor and advertising manager; Rick Nagel, who was hired in 1985 as an associate editor; and Wayne Woltman, who became editor and publisher in 1986.

It was sold to several newspaper groups and was finally purchased by Shaw Media in 2012 and merged into the Kane County Chronicle.

“Geneva only had about 9,000 people but it was on the cusp of growth, and we were able to grow the newspaper as the community grew,” Rogers said. “We covered every meeting. Every city council committee meeting, school board meeting, park board meeting, township meeting. We covered everything that was going on.”

[Sandy Bressner - sbressner@shawmedia.com]

[Rick Nagel, former editor of the Geneva Republican, shows a front page from 1999 to a crowd gathered at the Geneva History Museum during a presentation in honor of the newspaper's 70th anniversary. The Geneva Republican was purchased by Shaw Media, owner of the Kane County Chronicle.]

As the hometown paper, the Republican published photos of every Geneva High School graduate and at Christmas, it published letters to Santa from every Geneva second grader, Rogers said.

“For a few years we tried to include a photo of virtually every activity at Swedish Days,” Rogers said. “We also published police reports every week. … We got phone calls saying, ‘Can you keep my kid’s name out of the paper?’ Of course, we refused.”

Rogers said the paper lost a few friendships over publishing names in the police reports, but it reflected the paper’s policy of being fair.

[Sandy Bressner - sbressner@shawmedia.com]

[Wayne Woltman, former publisher of the Geneva Republican, talks to a crowd gathered at the Geneva History Museum during a presentation in honor of the newspaper's 70th anniversary. The Geneva Republican was purchased by Shaw Media, owner of the Kane County Chronicle.]

“I tell you all this not to brag really about what we did – we didn’t think we were doing anything unusual,” Rogers said. “That was our job. That was our responsibility to cover Geneva the best way we could and as comprehensively as we could. We felt guilty if we missed a story.”

Woltman said he was a second-generation newspaperman as his father was a reporter at the Chicago Tribune. Woltman said he had been editor of the Daily Illini when he was at the University of Illinois.

“I kind of grew up in the newsroom downtown,” Woltman said. “I had a number of experiences in newspapers before the Republican, but the Republican was the pinnacle of my time. Local papers, in my estimation, are the heartbeat of a community.”

[Sandy Bressner - sbressner@shawmedia.com]

[Wayne Woltman (far right), former publisher of the Geneva Republican, talks to a crowd gathered at the Geneva History Museum as former editors Dave Rogers (far left) and Rick Nagel (center) look on during a presentation in honor of the newspaper's 70th anniversary. The Geneva Republican was purchased by Shaw Media, owner of the Kane County Chronicle.]

Woltman said he was blessed with a good staff.

“I wish they were here to give them my salute,” Woltman said.

His family members also helped out at the paper, including his son, Matt, who reminded him of one time he took papers to another printer.

“I gave him my telephone to stay in touch and I had to track him down because he had stopped somewhere between here and Naperville to have lunch,” Woltman said, prompting the audience of about 60 people to laugh. “We had a great discussion about that.”

[Sandy Bressner - sbressner@shawmedia.com]

[Rick Nagel, former editor of the Geneva Republican, talks to a crowd gathered at the Geneva History Museum during a presentation in honor of the newspaper's 70th anniversary. The Geneva Republican was purchased by Shaw Media, owner of the Kane County Chronicle.]

Nagel, who now works for Kane County preparing the Kane County Connects daily newsletter, said back in the day he thought 95 percent of the households in Geneva subscribed to the Geneva Republican.

“Because it was the community newspaper,” Nagel said. “And there is no replacement for that now. There is no substitute for that now. And there are sad times that go with that. But I do think there is a lot of great journalism happening. And I still see a lot of hope for new media.”

Nagel said his time at the Republican could be called the heyday of newspaper work.

“The product that these guy put out, week in and week out, was nothing short of extraordinary,” Nagel said. “This was, by anyone’s standards, the best weekly newspaper in the state of Illinois, year after year after year.”